


Lessons in Acceptance

by SpadesDame



Series: Pharaoh's harem, the sitcom [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mahaad is a cryptic lil shit, Seto is being Seto, Talk about feelings, but it's ok, jaspershipping - relationship, which is a bit of a butt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-02-15 05:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13023774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpadesDame/pseuds/SpadesDame
Summary: “Why do you care.” It was, somehow, easier to speak without having to look at him.“Because someone has to.” Mahaad paused. “You’re a little like him. Seth.” Seto’s scoff did not go unnoticed. Mahaad chuckled, low and breathy. “I know, not a real compliment. He’s a lot.”---------------------Or the one where Seto broods, and has to arrive to his own answers. But he has some help.





	1. Impasse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RaeValentine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaeValentine/gifts).



> Hello there. Decided to stop sitting on this lil bugger and post it. 
> 
> Chapter two to follow with more action, explanations, and controversy over pizza toppings so, keep an eye out! ;)

It had been a week, Seto thought, - week since he had held Atem. He was frustrated with himself for admitting it- even more frustrated that there was anything to admit. It was like an addiction. The more he got, the more he craved. A few short months ago the thought of Atem in his house, in his bed, in his arms, would not have dared present itself in his mind. And then it was happening and Seto was falling and he seemed powerless to stop it.

It scared him. It was scary that he had let himself fall, had allowed the other man to make a nest deeper than he had thought inside his chest. The fact that he had not slept since besides an unfortunate nap on top of his desk was further disconcerting. The email he had been compiling had gained long strings of gibberish keysmash while he had slept.

He rolled his shoulders, trying to rid himself of the tightness in them. There was a twitch on the right side of his neck but not much progress, the soreness a grim reminder of his disconcerting state. Hold lax on his empty mug, he let his gaze wander across the gardens.

Then it was plucked out of his hands, replaced by another, full and pleasantly warm. He cupped it in his palms, letting the warmth seep through to skin and didn’t much care that it wasn’t coffee he was sipping (tea, black, touch of honey), gazing sideways at the one making himself welcome on the porch, a second steaming mug in his own hands.  The longer the silence continued the more agitated Seto got, tense and waiting for the other to speak.

Mahaad looked at him, with those eyes like steel that betrayed nothing.  Then he carefully set his mug down, one leg folding gracefully under him so he was facing Seto with his whole body, open and relaxed. Seto thought that had to be a ploy. It was a textbook trick, to make other people let down their own guard. Seto should know.

“May I?” Mahaad asked.

Seto’s left eye twitched. One would have thought that after all the spacetime travel and the planning he would have gotten used to understanding their language. He hadn’t.

“Touch you,” Mahaad clarified in that low casual mumble of his. As if that cleared anything for Seto.

“Why?” he chocked out through teeth and sinew.

The barest lift of a shoulder, Mahaad’s head tilted to the side in that way Atem often did. A wispy lock of hair fell over his shoulder as he did so, gladly drawing Seto’s attention somewhere other than his eyes. “You’re tense.” Only Mahaad, he noted, looked less than an inquisitive cat and more like a panther seizing its meal up when he did that.

Some small voice inside his head dared to suggest that Seto was a little biased. Seto begged to disagree. The magician **_had_** muted him on sight when he had gone looking for Seth.

Screaming in the throne room of the (acting) protector of dimensions might not have been one of his finest moments, he had to admit, but that was beside the point.

(Talking to himself most certainly fell under ‘awake for far too long’ side effects.)

Mahaad’s hand had crept up to the nape of his neck and squeezed softly. Seto froze. “Are you opposed? I will stop should you be.”  Seto wanted to refuse. He had the words in his mouth, ready to come out and tell him to fuck off. But the hand was working wonders on his abused muscles and Mahaad had two of those he could put to work. Seto let his head loll forward and chewed on the words, swallowed the poison. What’s a little more?

He had not allowed the little pleased groan to leave his lips. He could keep this tiny piece of dignity -with tooth and nail if he had to.

“Here, turn a little to the left, like me.” Seto swore he could hear a tiny smile but now Mahaad had both hands set to his shoulders and Seto could feel the ugly week slipping away from his body, if not from his mind as well. “You should take better care of yourself.”

“Why do you care.” It was, somehow, easier to speak without having to look at him.

“Because someone has to.” Mahaad paused. “You’re a little like him. Seth.” Seto’s scoff did not go unnoticed. Mahaad chuckled, low and breathy. “I know, not a real compliment. He’s a lot.” Seto heard the warmth in Mahaad’s voice as he spoke of the other and felt his skin crawl. He could deal with anyone surpassing him at something with more grace besides his supposed Other. “But in the same way… you are both vastly different. And there’s your answer.”

“What would you know,” said Seto, to cover up the fact that it was him who didn’t understand. The phrase ended -along with his last piece of dignity- on a muffled groan as Mahaad’s fingers managed to loosen a stubborn knot. Seto did not know why he was enabling this kind of talk. It was just… out there now, and there was nothing he could do about it short of getting up and walking away.

“Mmm. More than you think, Seto Kaiba,” said Mahaad, in the playful way of someone who kept his cards close to his heart and cared only to tantalize you with glimpses of information.

“You’re in love with him.” Seto had no idea why that mattered. He wished he could have shut his own mouth, taken the coward’s route, get up and walk away before this all started. Time travel should be applicable to everyday life anyway, thank you very much.

But Mahaad was apparently humoring him.

“…That’s… one way to put it. For people like us… I mean, it’s been millennia, yet not really. Not physically. It just. Is.” Mahaad did not bother to specify a starting point for the counter. Meeting them? Losing them? Loving them? Perhaps it didn’t matter. “But if I have to carry on, I have every intention of doing so by their side, or else it has no meaning, you know?”

Seto’s brain was too foggy for this kind of talk. But he thought some inner part of him understood. “Is this a test.”

This time Mahaad laughed, light and real and alive and Seto had his answer. With a caressing slide of his hands down Seto’s clothed back he got up. “I’ll let you be the judge of that.”

Finger under his chin, the catch of his breath between parted lips, touch of a feather. Mahaad’s lips caressed his own for the barest second, dry and brief and fleeting. Seto’s eyes fluttered open to the slide of the patio door as Mahaad picked up their empty mugs and disappeared into the house.

Seto could feel the kiss on his skin long after the magician had gone inside, letting the patio door open just a crack, like an invitation. He was left to stare over the grass and trees and flowers, professionally groomed in a kind of patented boring way. He made a note to change that, aware that he was stalling something. The creak in his neck was gone, the drowsiness he had fallen into gone along with Mahaad’s butterfly kiss. He brought his fingers to his lips.

“Dragon? We are ordering Chinese.”

Seto let out a drawn out breath, got to his feet, packing away his thoughts. “Coming.”

He ignored Atem’s inquisitive glance and slipped past him to lead the way inside.

Over Yuugi’s fuzzy head, his eyes met Mahaad’s. The man seemed pleased with something - as to what, Seto could not tell – grey eyes glimmering and the corners of his lips infinitesimally turned upwards. From what he could hear, Seth and Yuugi were in the midst of a fierce argument about take out in two different languages with no middleman. Seto sighed, drew his eyes away from the magician and made to snatch up the menu before any anchovies entered his house.


	2. Sleeping dragons

All through dinner, Seto had sat on the far end of the couch, absentmindedly chewing something that he thought might be chicken. Sauce dribbled down the corner of Yuugi’s mouth and Seth watched the spot with apt attention for several seconds before snapping a comment about Mahaad’s choice of dish. Mahaad had shrugged, apparently enjoying the noodle flavored onions he was eating and Atem chuckled softly like it was any other Thursday night. Seto felt vaguely unreal in that moment, more like a casual observer of his own life than a participant, like a fine mist had settled between him and the happenings.

He had to wonder if it was solely the lack of sleep or if it was part of some sort of defense mechanism, because he could not categorize his feelings as he watched Seth wedged so comfortably between the far arm rest and Atem. His chest felt heavy faced with the casual intimacy while doing something as mundane as eating, containers constantly passed between them until they lost track of which was whose.

There had been no anchovies and the pineapple discussion had been filed away for another time. Teaching the two newly delivered Egyptians how to use chopsticks, however, had been a trip. Seth still seemed to be having trouble with it and Mahaad passed up no chances to repay him for the teasing. At some point, chopsticks had been raised threateningly in Mahaad’s direction, to be answered by a single challenging brow.

The fork that Yuugi had fetched after taking pity on him lay untouched on the coffee table by Yuugi’s hip. Seth had stubbornly persisted, stabbing at his food like it had offended him. Atem stole a shrimp and Seto saw him place his hand on the other man’s thigh and felt like screaming. They hardly took up a little over a single couch cushion between them, with Atem’s legs crossed inwards towards Seth. And Seth was a large man. Did they have to sit so damn close together?

Atem held out a piece of fried shrimp for Yuugi to take. Instead of his hand, Yuugi caught it with his mouth, lingering long enough to lick Atem’s fingers clean. Seth’s eyes followed, intrigued. A deep blush had spread on Atem’s cheeks at the display and Yuugi smirked, trying and failing to appear engrossed in his own container. When Seth leaned close to Atem’s ear to whisper gods know what, Seto could stand it no more. He was on his feet before he could blink.

“Babe you ok?” Yuugi asked.

The chocked sound Seto managed was probably not an appropriate response but it was all he could spare, bolting for the kitchen.

Once in relative safety, he filled a large glass of water and drained half of it in one go. The rest of it he sipped more slowly, hip against the counter as he let the coolness of it ground him. His hands were shaking, his muscles cold and unyielding from exhaustion. He just needed to keep this charade up until he could lay down in his bed and rest. He kept glancing at the doorway, half expecting one of them to follow him but he was glad they didn’t. He wasn’t sure how he would have taken to that, and he needed a moment to restart his brain.

When he steeled himself to return, he noted that his spot was waiting for him. Atem and Seth were playfully bantering with Yuugi third-wheeling spectacularly, his eyes glazed over in a way that suggested Atem was translating for him mentally. Mahaad peered over their heads at Seth’s progress and snickered.

“Almost victorious.”

“Go away,” Seth complained, more pushing his noodles around than trying to catch them by this point. Everyone else had finished eating.

Atem leaned on him to see. “At least get the shrimp,” he pointed out.

“ _You_ get it, I’m done.” Seth thrust the container to Atem, who frowned at it.

“I’m full. Mahaad? You could use it more than I do.”

Mahaad shrugged, accepting the container without fuss, but he did pinch the remaining shrimp between the chopsticks and pass it to Atem without looking at him. “Last chance,” he warned Seth. “It’s mine now.”

“Enjoy,” Seth sighed, leaning his head against the back of the couch in apparent defeat.

Seto watched as Mahaad held the shrimp out to Atem patiently, not moving a muscle until he accepted it. Atem looked at him incredulously as he chewed and swallowed. “You can’t just pass me the good bits.”

“You know I am more partial to meats,” Mahaad answered off handedly, now quickly polishing off the last of the noodles. “Could do with more onion,” he mused, spinning away from Seth’s side of the couch with an airy chuckle as Seth tried to swat at him. He came to perch on the armrest next to Seto.

“I’m afraid we are, uh, full at the moment.” Seto’s attention had zeroed in on the action, Mahaad so close to him, the rest of them pushed to the edges of his awareness.

Mahaad's eyes glimmered with something Seto could not decipher. “Nonsense.”

Seto braved a long look at him. After the display on the porch, he wasn’t sure they were talking about the same thing, and he thought this was territory he should not tread while sleep deprived for the sake of his sanity. He reached to place his now empty glass on the coffee table in lack of anything else to do, just as the couch started to shake from Yuugi’s attempts to half straddle Atem for reasons unknown. “Sit properly, will you, shrimp?”

“Love you too, boo!”

Seto felt his ears burning, embarrassed at Yuugi’s carefree manner despite himself. He caught Seth –elbow on the couch back, head resting on his hand, lounging like a king—studying him. “What do _you_ want?” he snapped, unthinkingly reverting to their shared language. He watched Seth blink, as if he was caught unawares of his own staring and shrug, his attention returning to Atem somewhat sheepishly.

Behind him, unbeknownst to him, Mahaad was also watching Seth with a little knowing smile.

When Yuugi got up, dragging Atem by the arm, Seth followed albeit at a more leisurely pace. Finally in relative silence, Seto took a moment to close his eyes and compose himself, sinking lower on the couch and resting his head against the back. When he opened them again, Mahaad had not moved from the armrest. Seto moved a spot over. “If you’re staying, no need to sit there.”  Belatedly, he realized that he needn’t have bothered. Mahaad could have sat anywhere without Seto having to move. And why beside him anyway? Surely he would rather follow his king. Seto’s face was flaming even worse for Mahaad’s curious look. But he humored him all the same, accepting the offered seat. Seto didn’t know if it’s for better or for worse but suddenly the memory of that fleeting kiss was overwhelmingly present.

“I was wondering,” Mahaad started. “I want to learn the language. Properly, this time.” He smiled at Seto. “Dark magic attack is not going to cut it this time around.”

Seto felt weirdly relieved by the absence of any double meaning that he could discern. He found himself nodding. “I would imagine not.”

“You have means?”

“I highly doubt a course for Japanese for ancient Egyptians exists.” They shared a knowing look, and Seto felt a small thrill at it. “Won’t be the hardest thing I have pulled off yet.”

“I imagine not,” Mahaad mimicked, grinning. There it was, thought Seto. That sense that you are being watched, catalogued by a million eyes. In the quiet of the house, it was easy to sink into the cushions with only the occasional excited whoop coming from the game room upstairs, and let go.

 

 

Atem was making his way to the kitchen to get Yuugi some soda and something for himself and Seth when he realized the lights in the living room were still on. He backtracked, peeking inside. He blinked, drinks forgotten. Surely, his eyes were playing tricks.

He tiptoed closer, sure that Seto would not wake for at least fourteen hours now if he was indeed sleeping, but unsure about Mahaad. Yet his friend was awake and looked at him with a finger to his lips, allowing Seto to rest against his shoulder. Atem shook his head and pointed upwards, head tilted in question. “He won’t wake,” he murmured when Mahaad shot him a doubtful look. “He’s been awake too long. Come on.” Atem reached to sling his arm underneath Seto’s knees, knowing he could carry him but Mahaad stopped him, easily gathering Seto in his arms instead. Without the energy to disagree –not tonight, when he had just gotten them back-- Atem watched Seto stir and settle in Mahaad’s hold but not wake.

He thought it was probably for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am i glad to be getting rid of this. If u read this far, thank u and please have a cookie. 
> 
> I feel like there are a lot of little things going on in so few words. Like Seth's weird looks and Seto's onslaught of feelings and Mahaad's baits left and right. I am myself too close to Seto's state of exhaustion to get into these at length rn, but be sure that we will see more of that as the series progresses and comes together. 
> 
> Some references made:  
> -Mahaad didn't lie about the (red) meats, but he totally passed Atem that shrimp bc he knows him and Seth always liked seafood and he saw Atem's clear preference. Rule of thumb: Mahaad is always watching.  
> -Mahaad also needs heaps of food and a good long nap after using up his magic, which is also why Atem opted to pass him the container instead.  
> -yes this is another installment in the "Seto snoozes on people" saga. i couldn't resist.  
> -I feel like Seth would have replied differently given time. i had half a mind to make him say "You're nice to look at" when Seto confronted him for the staring but then i realized that what i had in mind was the Seth of a few months in the future, when he is at ease with his surroundings and his feelings for Seto. This Seth is still raw and confused and bears the burden of hurting Atem and of accepting his (undeserving, in his thoughts) forgiveness upon their reunion. 
> 
>  
> 
> Last but not least! keep an eye out for the next installment in the series, set actually between this and "A Shared Fate".  
> Up next: Seth makes a decision for Atem that, unbeknownst to him would be the catalyst that started all this.  
> ...or? was the catalyst Seto's afterlife travels all along? ;)
> 
> Take a minute to let me know what u think? Questions more than welcome at this point as i am writing these in no linear order. <3

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a bit saddened and a lot bothered by certain opinions of ace!Mahaad (or Mahaad in general) i read in the fandom. Yes, my Mahaad is ace. No he is not a machine. Please and Thank you. Expect more of this to follow. 
> 
> Chapter two will deal more with the dynamic of their relationship -involving all 5. a tentative start, for them. but a good one. 
> 
> Penny for your thoughts?


End file.
